Bird Set Free: Avia’s Story

Content warning: Victim blaming, child abuse, body shaming, and religious shaming of mental illness Editorial note: The author’s name has been changed to ensure anonymity. “Avia” is a pseudonym.  There are a few incidents in my life that pushed me to leave home. Clipped wings, I was a broken thing… When I was nineteen years old, I fell into a

Pain and Pastures: By Nancy Scott

“Trauma as I define it is anything that overwhelms the body’s ability to regulate itself. Our flight/flight/freeze response is located in the sympathetic nervous system, marked by elevated heart rate, shallow breathing, narrowed peripheral vision, and tightened muscles that are ready to run or fight at a moment’s notice… I’ve worked as a therapist for about fifteen years now, ‘somatically’ with people like Flora for about ten. I have found that working with the body is essential for resolving traumatic memory.”

Mental Health — From Shame to Seeking Help

There is a stigma against admitting you have a mental illness, like it’s something that should only be talked about in whispers.

I Am Learning To Love Myself: Mara’s Story, Part Two

“Almost all the girls in my family or in my best friend’s family have struggled with anorexia or bulimia at some point in time.”

I Cannot Write You a Happy Ending, Part Two: By Slatewoman

“Homeschooling and mental illness are a terrible combination. And chances are, if a parent is mentally ill, the child might as well be too — and this cycle can go on for generations. My way of ending it is to not have children. I don’t want them anyway and I would be a terrible parent. But I don’t want to spread my genes and the proclivities that go along with them.”

I Cannot Write You a Happy Ending, Part One: By Slatewoman

“My mom has been bi-polar for as long as I can remember, but she was diagnosed when I was 10. I remember when she started taking medication for it and things got bad. Real bad. This was back before many long-term studies had been done on the medications she was given, and she was given just about every one under the sun between then and now.”

A Call for Stories for HA’s Upcoming Mental Health Awareness Series

“Mental health is a fundamentally important part of our daily lives. It is as important — and as natural — as any other type of health like dental or physical health. But when we are mentally unhealthy, we are often afraid to talk about it. We can feel ashamed. Embarrassed. Terrified of what others might think. Alienated. ‘Crazy.’ …We need to break this stigma.”

Mental Health — From Shame to Seeking Help, Part Seven: Lana Hobbs the Brave

“I’m still pretty messed up. I still deal with depression and hypomania. I still struggle with the stigma and other unhealthy ideas from my fundamentalist upbringing. I will always be bipolar, and I might always have to fight against the negative self-beliefs in my brain since childhood. But I will learn to handle them better.”

Mental Health — From Shame to Seeking Help, Part Six: Unashamed of Taking Evil Pills

“I felt like all these people were flocking around me to praise God, without really caring about the state of my mind, body, or heart. They just wanted to hear a testimony. There, with the stress, the frustration at church, and the knowledge my solution was a villified little pill, I had a panic attack in the middle of all those women.”

Mental Health — From Shame to Seeking Help, Part Five: Fighting the Shame

“I had to accept other words for myself – hardworking but depressed. Struggling. Strong but needing help. Probably bipolar, or having something that mimics it closely. I felt trapped in my mind but at least now I was arguing to myself that this wasn’t my fault.”